Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1887-02-23


concentrations of the committee on appro-
priations and conference was ordered on
the disagreeing votes of the two houses.
Mr.. Bragg of Wisconsin, from the COM
mittee on military affairs, reported the bill
which is intended a substitute for the
McAdoo bill to provide for the manufacture
of first-class modern guns for the navy and
seacoast and other defenses and it was re-
ferred to the committee of the whole.
The committee report unanimously and
say while they concur in the wisdom of max
ing provision looking to system of public
defense which shall protect our seaboard and
the great lakes. In case of the contingency
of war, which the committee do not consider
in any degree imminent, they decline to
adopt the proposed bill, but recommend the
substitute therefor which in the judgment of
the committee will fully meet all present
exigencies and place the country in a
position readily and quickly to pro-
vide against all future exigencies as
they may arise The report is largely de-
scription of the bill which was published in
full yesterday and defines the objects of its
provisions. In referring to the appropria-
ton of 50 SOC, 900 for steel castings and forg-
ings for gun material for eight, ten and
twelve-inch breech-loading rifle guns the re-
port says: It may be asked why the amount
appropriated is SO small and why no provis-
ion is made for still larger gun and why
the appropriation is restricted to steel and
excludes cast iron. The answer of the com
mittee to these interrogations may be briefly
stated Steel was selected because the COM
mittee believe it to be much the best mate
rial for large guns, as proven by actual test,
and it would seem to Be manifest truth to
the ordinary mind from common observa-
ton. Why are steel rails preferred
in the construction of railways, and
why is cast iron laid aside and
steel substituted. The answer is manifest
by reason of the greater endurance of steel
the strain shock and wear to which the rail
is subjected is better endured by STEEL The
amount fixed is believed to be fully as large
as can be proftably expended in material in
the time within which the appropriation
limited, and the size of the now guns desig-
mated fully as large as it may reasonably be
expected will be produced and manufactured
within the time limited. The manufacture
of steel for guns in this country il in it's in
fancy. No II or 10 inch steel gun has been
proposed. and no manufacturer has plant
ready to handle them. 1t seems a simple
thing to order 10 or 90 inch rifle to be
made, but we consider the enormous strain
which such a gun must bear in order to be a
success, and the great danger, both to the
men employed to handle it in action and to
the place proposed to be protected by it IL
case of failure when the ggp shall be put on
to its critical moment. It Is manifest
to the committee that real progress in the
art of gun making means the adoption of
conservative aetion-'make haste slowly u
Second-Gpn manufacture of the kind con-
telnplated by the act is in its infancy in this
country and it must be learned to creep be-
fore it can walk and walk before it can run
While the producer of material from his past
experience would hesitate to contract for the
material required for a 15-inch gun, he
would very readily assume to supply mate
rial for an eight-inch gnn, because of the ex-
laT- oil L,
struction of six-inch guns, and having be-
come familiarized with necessary REQUIRE
ments for an eight-inch he will Just as read
lily advance to ten-inch gun, and so on
The committee belieye that the time covered
by this appropriation give yea1s) will be re-
quired to bring the state of the art
up to the requirements of a fifteen
inch gun, and upon such belief do
not think it wise or prudent to make appro-
priations that cannot be proftably or wisely
expended within the next five years. When
that time shall hove been reached, or sooner
if it shall appear from actual experience that
1t is the part Of wisdom to do it, the amounts
appropriated may be indefinitely expended
| No greater agent is required now.
The second section of the bill provides for
| the purchase and creation of q government
| plant for the construction and completion of
| the material purchased under the first section
| into guns, The amount appropriated, $780,
| 600, the committee after careful investigation
believe to be fully sufficient for the plant
with all the machinery and equipment neces
sary for the construction of the classes speci
| fed in the first section and to cons ruct the
building of sufficient dimensions and cepe2i
! ty to adrait tbs additional machinery neees
sary for the manufacture of larger guns to hs
| added when W" s hsl. nave reached the poin
that the manufacture of such guns may 81
successfully entered upon.
The third section of the bill provides TO
rifled mortars of the largest size for coas
defense and appropriates $4,000 therefor
This is one of the quickest means OF eoas
already one in process of construction whic